Impossible Things
by Estantia
Summary: Have you ever wondered how Major Schubaltz escaped that self-destructing base? Oneshot, Chaotic Century.


Haven't you ever wondered how the major escaped that base? Not only that, but why it was never looked at in detail?

Quite obviously I do not own the zoids franchise... but here's an answer to those questions, enjoy!

(I honestly cannot find the name of that base now... If anyone can tell me it I'd be grateful, thanks!)

* * *

A list of impossible things.

He was leaning quite happily against the bank of computers as all the officers ran around the room or plain fled. The chaos was almost entertaining, watching them all run amok and completely forget about him, the one had caused this chaos in the first place.

To be fair, who would expect a bound prisoner, who happened to be a major two minutes before, to hit the base's self-destruct button?

Major Schubaltz smiled slightly, his equivalent of a grin, it was good to know that this place would not be used by the enemy in future, he was slightly disappointed that they had underestimated him, but it had worked to his advantage.

He leant back and closed his eyes, still smiling as he quietly spoke to himself. "My job here is done, I have served my purpose, it will be my pleasure to go down fighting."

"Well you're certainly not fighting to live are you?" came a woman's voice from next to him, leading his eyes to open and look at the girl watching him. She couldn't have been more than 18 and certainly wasn't any officer of theirs. For one thing she was wearing a long golden coat over white t-shirt and trousers, for another she actually had long brown hair fully let down to float around her arms, which were folded.

"Come on, you need to get out of here."

"No, my time has come. I am not sad to see it, I would not wish to serve a corrupt emperor."

By this time the command centre was empty and he unconcernedly studied the girl, "Who are you?"

"A friend," she said shortly, "come on!" she made a move to grab his arm and pull, then stopped. She must know who he was then. Her hand changed direction to touch his bound wrists for a moment, the cuffs falling to the floor as he looked at his hands in dreamy detachment.

"The incompetence, they must not have sealed them properly."

"Yeah, sure, whatever you say..." The girl said before glaring at him, "Now do you want to live or not? Because sure as heck I can't pilot a zoid!"

"There's no point trying now," the major indicated the countdown, "we'd never make the hanger, let alone clear the blast radius."

"You never know until you try, right?" the stranger said with a grin.

Suddenly the dream-like state shattered, the Major returning to himself at the semi-familiar words, though the voice he remembered saying them was rather different. The intrusion of the sirens on his senses was a little irritating, but he still started to run, the girl not far behind him as they pelted through corridors.

As the pair streaked into the hanger the Major frowned. That should have taken 10 minutes and several sets of stairs, yet he hadn't noticed any of them? Another impossible thing to add to his mental list. He must have been paying severely little attention, it ought to be remedied.

The pair jumped into the modified Zaber fang as the voice outside continued to count down. "I suggest strapping yourself in tight, I will be going fast."

"Even I knew that one, but in a Zaber Fang you can only go so fast," she retorted, though she strapped herself in anyway.

"Then let us hope another impossible thing happens," he stated simply as the zoid powered up and the canopy lowered. The cat-like zoid sped away from the base, leaving the other machines and the base behind.

"We'll still be pushing it to escape the blast radius," the major commented idly, eyes not leaving the area in front of him, "even going at top speed we're going to be too close."

"I'm sure that if you really push it we can manage it," his passenger replied brightly as they grazed top speed. The major frowned, he had been so sure that the zoid would go faster than usual with his unusual passenger onboard.

"How did you get into the base anyway?"

"Err... Nevermind." The Major was not a great fan of cartoons, but even HE could spot a sweatdrop moment.

The passenger closed her eyes and concentrated, hands gently resting on the side panels. What he couldn't see was the golden light that danced through the zoid, coiling around the core as the engines responded to the new energy, increasing in speed until the ground beneath them started to blur.

In the cockpit the Major's eyes flicked to the speed counter. By far above their top speed, but the zoid was still holding together and he was, miraculously, in control. He loved being right.

Fire expanded behind them, shooting in all directions as the countdown ran out, overtaking the zoids behind them and racing after them. Somewhere an engine exploded, Somewhere else a flying zoid fell to the flames, the shadow holding its shape in freefall for a moment before disintegrating.

The Zaber Fang sprinted for its life, racing the fire that was stretching out for it with greedy hands and determined to outrun the danger even as it crept closer. The pilot couldn't see it, but in his mind's eye it loomed large on their tail, sensors telling him EXACTLY how far away the explosion was.

Time seemed to stretch as the blast caught up to them, creeping up on the zoid as they flashed across the landscape. He never had been a fan of giving a running commentary on the situation, so their race was silent, both pilot and zoid pushing their limits as their speed peaked.

Fire licked at their backs, the tail should be melting, the back legs should be melting... but they weren't, they were still pounding, still racing the explosion. Suddenly the fire started to lose its enthusiasm, as if it had realised that the Zaber Fang wasn't going to be claimed by the power of the blast.

With a triumphant bound the zoid leapt out of the flames, a few curls of flame clinging to the metal for a moment before burning themselves out. The Fang still sped onwards, the zoid slowly returning to a normal speed as they escaped the danger, though golden light still eddied around the machine, the last remnants of its protection.

"So what are you going to do now?" His passenger asked, "Now that you know Rudolf's alive?"

"I think I'll collect my own forces to try and help him," he said, not questioning the trustworthiness of the girl, "Prozen has gone too far to be allowed to continue." The girl nodded approvingly behind him and they continued in silence.

After a while of silent travelling the Zaber fang slowed and stopped near a river, settling itself as the canopy opened and the Major jumped out, making his way to the much-needed water.

It was a moment before he realised the girl hadn't got out when he did, when he did notice however, he remained by the river, finishing his drink before calmly making his way back to the zoid and looking into the cockpit.

He wasn't entirely surprised to find it empty. However, he did aim a blink at the still-fastened harness. So, she apparently hadn't even left her seat. He supposed that was one more thing to add to his impossible story. Major Schubaltz decided then that he would let everyone else come up with how he escaped from the base. Who would believe him? Even he didn't entirely believe what had happened.

It seemed that Van Flyheight wasn't the only one capable of miracles.


End file.
